Incentive contracting - An annotated and classified modern bibliography

Incentive contracts bibliograph

Communitywide Database Designs for Tracking Innovation Impact: COMETS, STARS and Nanobank

Data availability is arguably the greatest impediment to advancing the science of science and innovation policy and practice (SciSIPP). This paper describes the contents, methodology and use of the public online COMETS (Connecting Outcome Measures in Entrepreneurship Technology and Science) database spanning all sciences, technologies, and high-tech industries; its parent COMETSandSTARS database which adds more data at organization and individual scientist-inventor-entrepreneur level restricted by vendor licenses to onsite use at NBER and/or UCLA; and their prototype Nanobank covering only nano-scale sciences and technologies. Some or all of these databases include or will include: US patents (granted and applications); NIH, NSF, SBIR, STTR Grants; Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge; ISI Highly Cited; US doctoral dissertations; IPEDS/HEGIS universities; all firms and other organizations which ever publish in ISI listed journals beginning in 1981, are assigned US patents (from 1975), or are listed on a covered grant; additional nanotechnology firms based on web search. Ticker/CUSIP codes enable linking public firms to the major databases covering them. A major matching/disambiguation effort assigns unique identifiers for an organization or individual so that their appearances are linked within and across the constituent legacy databases. Extensive geographic coding enables analysis at country, region, state, county, or city levels. The databases provide very flexible sources of data for serious research on many issues in the study of organizations in innovation systems in the development and spread of knowledge, and the economics of science. Enabling the study of these topics, among others, COMETS contributes substantially to the science of science and technology.

Matrix elements of four-quark operators and \Delta L=2 hyperon decays

The study of neutrinoless double beta decays of nuclei and hyperons require the calculation of hadronic matrix elements of local four-quark operators that change the total charge by two units \Delta Q=2 . Using a low energy effective Lagrangian that induces these transitions, we compute these hadronic matrix elements in the framework of the MIT bag model. As an illustrative example we evaluate the amplitude and transition rate of \Sigma- -> p e- e-, a decay process that violates lepton number by two units (\Delta L=2). The relevant matrix element is evaluated without assuming the usual factorization approximation of the four-quark operators and the results obtained in both approaches are compared.Comment: 13 pages, 2 .eps figure

Exchange-Only Dynamical Decoupling in the 3-Qubit Decoherence Free Subsystem

The Uhrig dynamical decoupling sequence achieves high-order decoupling of a single system qubit from its dephasing bath through the use of bang-bang Pauli pulses at appropriately timed intervals. High-order decoupling of single and multiple qubit systems from baths causing both dephasing and relaxation can also be achieved through the nested application of Uhrig sequences, again using single-qubit Pauli pulses. For the 3-qubit decoherence free subsystem (DFS) and related subsystem encodings, Pauli pulses are not naturally available operations; instead, exchange interactions provide all required encoded operations. Here we demonstrate that exchange interactions alone can achieve high-order decoupling against general noise in the 3-qubit DFS. We present decoupling sequences for a 3-qubit DFS coupled to classical and quantum baths and evaluate the performance of the sequences through numerical simulations

Gz, a guanine nucleotide-binding protein with unique biochemical properties

Cloning of a complementary DNA (cDNA) for Gz alpha, a newly appreciated member of the family of guanine nucleotide-binding regulatory proteins (G proteins), has allowed preparation of specific antisera to identify the protein in tissues and to assay it during purification from bovine brain. Additionally, expression of the cDNA in Escherichia coli has resulted in the production and purification of the recombinant protein. Purification of Gz from bovine brain is tedious, and only small quantities of protein have been obtained. The protein copurifies with the beta gamma subunit complex common to other G proteins; another 26- kDa GTP-binding protein is also present in these preparations. The purified protein could not serve as a substrate for NAD-dependent ADP- ribosylation catalyzed by either pertussis toxin or cholera toxin. Purification of recombinant Gz alpha (rGz alpha) from E. coli is simple, and quantities of homogeneous protein sufficient for biochemical analysis are obtained. Purified rGz alpha has several properties that distinguish it from other G protein alpha subunit polypeptides. These include a very slow rate of guanine nucleotide exchange (k = 0.02 min^-1), which is reduced greater than 20-fold in the presence of mM concentrations of Mg2+. In addition, the rate of the intrinsic GTPase activity of Gz alpha is extremely slow. The hydrolysis rate (kcat) for rGz alpha at 30 degrees C is 0.05 min^-1, or 200-fold slower than that determined for other G protein alpha subunits. rGz alpha can interact with bovine brain beta gamma but does not serve as a substrate for ADP-ribosylation catalyzed by either pertussis toxin or cholera toxin. These studies suggest that Gz may play a role in signal transduction pathways that are mechanistically distinct from those controlled by the other members of the G protein family

Systemic transformative adaptation towards urban economic resilience

The socioeconomic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic are likely to increase further across economies. There is increasing apprehension on the status of rail transport infrastructure megaprojects which are already complex and face many uncertainties and it is imperative to initiate a restoration coupled with support to be implemented in a timely manner. Investors continue to invest in rail megaprojects that run high risks of being over-scheduled and over-budgeted, which has raised the need to improve rail megaporjects and their investments in order to establish the economic base of any society. Hence it is vital to analyse the systemic risks in rail megaprojects given their complexity and uncertainty towards developing an efficient risk management framework. To improve the performance of the procurement of rail megaprojects, the present study conducts a detailed literature review to explore the key procurement risk indicators and critical success factors for public procurement of rail megaprojects. The key findings are used to develop an integrated approach towards a systemic transformative adaptation to enable the effective incorporation of the procurement risk management process into the planning and decision-making of rail megaprojects in the UK. This study develops a conceptual framework that indicates that one of the most critical enablers of improvement in the performance of procurement of rail megaprojects is by enabling a collaborative approach. This is a unique study that presents key procurement risk indicators and critical success factors to derive sustainability based enablers to improve the performance of the procurement process of rail megaprojects

An Ontology-based Image Repository for a Biomedical Research Lab

We have developed a prototype web-based database for managing images acquired during experiments in a biomedical research lab studying the factors controlling cataract development. Based on an evolving ontology we are developing for describing the experimental data and protocols used in the lab, the image repository allows lab members to organize image data by multiple attributes. The use of an ontology for developing this and other tools will facilitate intercommunication among tools, and eventual data sharing with other researchers

Westbrook's Molecular Gun: Discovery of Near-IR Micro-Structures in AFGL 618

We present high-sensitivity near-IR images of a carbon-rich proto-planetary nebula, AFGL 618, obtained with the Subaru Telescope. These images have revealed ``bullets'' and ``horns'' extending farther out from the edges of the previously known bipolar lobes. The spatial coincidence between these near-IR micro-structures and the optical collimated outflow structure, together with the detection of shock-excited, forbidden IR lines of atomic species, strongly suggests that these bullets and horns represent the locations from which [\ion{Fe}{2}] IR lines arise. We have also discovered CO clumps moving at $> 200$ km s$^{-1}$ at the positions of the near-IR bullets by re-analyzing the existing $^{12}$CO $J=1-0$ interferometry data. These findings indicate that the near-IR micro-structures represent the positions of shocked surfaces at which fast-moving molecular clumps interface with the ambient circumstellar shell.Comment: 2 figures. To appear in the ApJ Letter